Just finishing a new masters degree in consciousness studies, this quote by Oprah Winfrey grabbed my attention. What did Oprah mean by a consciousness shift? You would need to ask her to know what she really meant, but I will take a stab at what I think she meant.

What does a shift in consciousness mean? In an overall sense, it refers to a new awareness of the world–a more holistic, and integrated worldview; a new worldview that sees the deeper connections in our lives to all people and all things, and the inviolability or sanctity of all life.

This shift has been a long time coming, and not just conceived on Election Night 2008. We have been evolving in this direction for a long, long time. The shift is much more than a new political or economic vision for America, although new visions of both could come from the shift. It is more than a shift in ideology from a Republican regime to a Democratic regime. It is more than a shift from rich to poor, White to Black, Iraq and Afghanistan to the American Middle. The shift in consciousness is about the recognition of the enormous power of our ideas, what we believe, hope for, and dream of. It is a shift to seeing how we transform ourselves each moment through our consciousness of ourselves and our world. It is about the role of our consciousness in giving shape to our evolution as human beings and integral components of the whole of life.

I believe that is what Oprah Winfrey was speaking of when she spoke of a consciousness shift. I believe this is something that has been inside Oprah Winfrey for a long time, but she was given the courage to speak to the shift by her recent work with Eckhart Tolle, the author of The Power of Now and A New Earth. Learn more here: http://www.eckharttolle.com/eckharttolle

Watch for the signs of this shift in consciousness within yourself and your world. It’s there and it is profoundly powerful.